Automatic piano



Feb. 17, 1925.

L' HEITZMANN AUTOMATIC FIANO 2 Sheets-Sheet l Filed May lly 1922 Wl 7' NESS gw@ W A TTU/wrs Feb. 17. l 925. 1,526,786

L. HEITZMA N N AUTOMATIC PIANO Filed May 1l, 1922 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Uhh-A 2 By fik/Jaw A TTR/VEYS Patented Fb.17,19z5. j 1,526,786

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LOUIS HEITZMANN, LO'NG ISLAND CITY, NEW` YORK, ASSIGNOR TO HARRY J. SOHMER, DOING BUSINESS AS SOHMER & CO., OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

AUTOMATIC PIANO.

Application filed May 11, 1922. Serial No. 559,984.

To all 'whom it may concern: readily disconnected therefrom. Action- J Be it known that I, Louis HEITZMANN, a brackets 7 are fixed upon the keyboard 5 citizen of the United States of America, in any suitable manner and support the and a resident of Long Island City, borough hammer rail 8 and the wippen rail 9 in the 55 and county of Queens, city and State of well known way, the two rails referred to New York, have invented certain new and being of a length suitable to the piano in useful Improvements in Automatic Pianos, which they are incorporated. Hammers 10 of which the following is a specification. carried by Shanks 11 are pivotally mounted My invention relates to automatic pianos, upon the hammer rail 8 by means of flanges 60 10 and more particularly to that type coml2 fixed in position in any suitable manner, monly known as grand pianos capable of as by means of screws 13. The hammers 10 being played either manually or automatiare arranged in registry with the piano cally at will. In pianos of this type, bewires 14, which are located in the piano inA cause of the peculiar and specific arrangethe customary manner, said hammers, in 65 15 ment and location of the elements compristheir normal positions, resting upon a rest ing the playing essentials thereof, it has rail l5 through the medium of the shanks heretofore been considered necessary to ef- 11, as shown in Fig. 1. fippens 16 of confect the automatic playing of the piano Ventional form and construction are pivotthrough the medium of the manual keys, ally mounted upon the wippen bar 9 through 70 with the result that the latter, during such the medium of flanges 17 and are provided automatic playing, not only presented an with flanges i6aL comprising pivotal supports undesirable and constant movement but, befor escapement levers 16b arranged in opcause of the same, were subjected to excess erative relation to the hammers 1() and in enwear and tear. The object of my invention gagement with knuckles 18 carried by the 75 is to overcome these objections by providshanks 11 of said hammers. It will be uning a novel means which is operatively comderstood that the wippens include all of bined with the piano action in a manner to the parts customarily found in wippens actuatethe same, and which is common to adapted especially for grand or square piboth the manually operated piano keys and anos. Each wippen 16 projects outwardly 80 3e the automatic mechanism and capable of bebeyond the co-operating flange 17 and is ing selectively operated by either. The oppivotally connected by means of a link 19 eration of the piano action may thus be acwith a jack 2() pivotally mounted by means complished by the automatic mechanism or of a flange 21 upon a rail 22 which is also the manually operated keys independently lixed upon the keyboard 5. The jack 2O g5 of each other, so that said keys are not afcarries a back-check 2Ou in operative relafected by the operation of the automatic tion to the co-operating hammer 1.0 and is mechanism. Other objects of my invention further arranged to engage a damper lever will appear from the description hereinafter 23 pivotally mounted by means of a flange and the features of novelty will be pointed 24 upon a support 25 extending upwardly 90 out in the appended claims. from the piano base 6 and provided at its In the accompanying drawings, which upper end with a forwardly extending memillustrate an example of the invention withber 26, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. A damout defining its limits, Figures l and 2 are per lever flange 27 is pivotally connected fragmentary, sectional elevations of a piano with the damper lever 28 and has adjust- 95 showing the parts in different positions, and ably mounted thereon the lifter wire 28 Figis adetail section on an enlarged scale. which passes slidably through the mem- In the drawings, 5 represents the keyber 26 and at its upper end carries board of a piano of the type generalljY lea damper 29 which may be of any usual ferred to as grand or square pianos, and and conventional form and co-operates 100 which is secured upon a suitable portion 6 with the wires 14 in the well known way. of said piano preferably in a manner to be A lever 30 is pivotally mounted at 3 1 upon a flange 32 which depends from the Wippen 16, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, said lever 30, at its one end, being arranged to engage a suitablewpad `33 or the like, carried by the wippen P16, land iat its other end being provided with a pad 34 adapted, under certain conditions, to engage a rod 35 extending parallel with the hammer rail 8. The piano `further includes the customary bank of manually operated` keys 36 which are pivotally mounted upon the keyboard and which operate in the Well, known Way. In

addition to the parts so ifa/r described, thel pianojis provided )Vith.automatieally operati'n'gjmeansplkfor actuating the piano :aetion, which meanshin "the illustrated exa1nple, :"c"omprise pneumatie'ally operated lola/S137 suitably located in lthe pianojand shown upon the piano "b'ase 6. It `iyillr'be understood that thejbello'yvs 3l are intended to be representative of' automatic piano actuatiiigniechani'sm `^generally and pneuiiiatically actuatedjmechanism in particular,A and that they are operated throughthe medium of a l"perforated slieetfin the `e(inventional manner Lor in any other 'Well 4'known Way.

The essentials of ithe present 'invention "consist 'in providing a. mea-ns Aoperatively combined with 'the piano lactionwor7 1more specicall'y, with the Wippen tlie'reohjbut preferably having no positive connection therewith and "being common to bot-h the manually operated keys v36 and to "the automatically operatingy mechanism represented b vftlie'belloyvs 37 this' means 'order/'ice although it isUo-peratively combined 'Withjthe keys 36 "and the 'automatic mechanism 37, has no positive Connection With eitheig'so that the keys 36 are not aiected' by the operation ot the bellows 37 Vand'lafccordiiigly may ""be' loeked against :movement vwhen the piano" being automatically operated.V ln "the illustratedi'example, the means or device "re terred to comprises stem v38 ent-ending lo esely through the key: 36 'and provided its upper end with Vahead yor pad 39v arranged Vto engage the lever 30. It 'will be' under-v stood'that the lever 3() and itsV associated elel`"gageinent vviththe Wippen 16.

the combination ot the stem 38.' or its equival pensedV With.

mentseomprise parts of the soft pedal rn'eclhanismand in some ea'sesrvrnay be replaced by other arrangements ;1in such ease thelp'ad or head l39 of thestem 38 may be in direct en- So lar as lent, Wfith thewippen 'coiicerneth this lever 30 is vtherefore not required andina-y 'be dis- At its lov/'erelid said ."steni f is provided With afhe'ad 40 arranged to engagea correspondingfliead 41v 'carried by a rod 42 which is secured tothe'bel'loiys In the preferred arrangement the stem 38 extends 'slidably through the capstaniserew y4 3, wvhiehfis Vsorew-threaded i'nthefke)7 36 andis made ot' tubular form for the aeoeinmodation of 'thestem 38. A cushion 44 is located at the upper end of the capstan screw 43 for the purpose of reducing and absorbing the impact forces resulting trom. an engagement of the capstan screw 43 with the lhead 39, as IWill appear more YJfully hereinafter. Any suitable meaiis may be pro- Vvidedfor locking the keys 36 against operlever ia-fndlOy it to ythe Wilppen `16erV vd ireetly to the latter in casesfyvherethe lever 3l) is omit-ted, and'consequently brii'igsabut a pivotal movement 'ofthe Wippen and its Hange v16a and/esoapementlever 1Gb the hammersliaiik 11 is pivotally aetuated.A 'i

to cause itsih'a'mmer lOtofsftrike the co-oper-V ating "Wire 1'4. Aslthe Wippen "islaotuatedfin the Adescribed manner, the flink 19 Will jbe moved doiv'n'iv'ardly and Will eausefthejaek 20 'toi'be pi'fvotally operatedto shittltheback- Vcheek '20a into an operative "ipositionhin which 'it 'its' unetions )vit-li 'respect to the part-ieular lia-'miner 10 :in 'the yvell known Way. `Thepivotaloperation of the lever 23 y and "'accordingly,v through the bra'tion under the effects ot the hammer rod42'fivill beraised and in Iturnfw'ill lift the A the lifter'iviifel28, raises the d'aniperlaivay from the Wire 14 to'pf'erinit iirestricted vii-V stem "38 and slidabl'y shift tliefsaiie in an..

uprightV dire'ction 'relatively to 'the f eapstai'i se'iew'f43l 'andto' the kfey 36. rllhis litt-ing 'of thefst'e'm 38 being communicated vto the y:hea-d 39 ivillvop errate the Wippen its l cop-voperatingxparts in the same 'vay' 'aspi'evious'ly 'described to cause the lammerl() to 'strike one Aof the Wires 14. The opera-(tion of'tliestemv `38 through the yied'ium ofl t'lieia'uto-'njiati'c mechanism.l as represeiilted :by the 'hellem-ys Y '37, is entirelyindependent otandproduces no effect upen thetkeys'36, vhichia'ecord'- ingly may be locked afgain'stfnioyement through the :member 'iornits'teduix'falent- From this Willlle/seen-` that,fthe action.' as exemplified 'by-"the 'pa'rts herein Lshown ai'id described, is V"capable "of being operated manually or automatically at will,

the automatic operation being entirely independent ot the manual operation, and the manual operation being without effect upon the automatic mechanism. Heretoi'ore, as previously stated herein, it has always been considered necessary to bring about the automatic operation of the piano action through the medium ot' the keys which, as a result, were pivotally actuated throughout the automatic operation ot' the instrument, which resulted not only in unnecessary wear and tear upon the. parts, but also presented an undesirable appearance. because of the constantly moving keys. It will be noted that the back-check 2()n is operated through the medium of the wippen and is not carried and operated by the keys directly, as is usually the case. The lever 30, as hereinafter set torth, is a partof the sott pedal mechanism and in addition to its other functions, serves to prevent lost motion when the sott pedal ot' the instrument is depressed in the customary manner, this being` a well known arrangement.

In its illustrated form, the device whereby the keys or the automatic mechanism are operatively combined with the piano action is so located that it may be removed trom the piano with the keyboard 5 and with the parts carried thereby.

It will be, noted that the device in question has no positive connection with the wippen and that while it is common to both the manually operated keys and the automatic mechanism, it, has no positive connect'on with either ot these elements. This results in an arrangement of maximum simplicity and efficiency without necessitating a. careful positioning of the parts with respect to each other, and in addition provides a mobility in the instrument which would not be present it the parts were positively connected with each other. It will beI understood that the stem 38 and its associated parts are intended to be representative or' equivalent devices which, in square or grand pianos, provide tor the operation o'tl the pano action through the medium ot the manually operated keys or the automatic mechanism independently of each other.

Various modification may be made within the scope of the claims without departing :trom the nature of my invention.

I claim:

l. In a grand piano, the combination of a manually operated key, automatic operating means, a. piano wire extending in a direction substantially parallel with said key` a hammer extending in the same general direction as said key for striking said wire, and means extending through said key in operative relation to said automatic means and operated by either said key or said automatic means, one independently of the other for selectively actuating said hammer manually and automatically at will.

2. In a grand piano, the combination ot manually operated key, automatic operating means, a piano wire extending in a. direction substantially parallel with said key, a hammer extending in the same gene-ral direction as 'said key for striking said wire, a wippen in operative relation to said hammer, and a device arranged to co-operate with said wippen but having no positive connection therewith and extending through said key in operative relation with said automatic means and having no positive connection wit-l said device being operable by either said key and said automatic device, one independently otl the other, for selectively actuating said wippen manually and automatically at will to operate said hammer.

3. In a grand piano, the combination ot a piano action, a manually operated key, pneumatic operating means, and actuating means arranged to cooperate with said piano action but having no positive connection therewith and extending through said key in operative relation to said pneumatic means and havino' no positive connection with either, said actuating means being operable by said key and said pneumatic means, one independently ot the other, for selectively operating said piano action manually and pneumatically at will.

Il. In a grand piano, the combination ot a pia-no action, a manually operated key, pneumatic operating means, a device eX- tending slidably through said key and movable thereby to operate said action and being` movable independently oit said key by said automatic mechanism for operating said piano action,.and a back-check mounted independently ot said key and said piano action and operatively connected with the latter.

5. In a grand piano, the combination ot' a piano action., a manually operated key, pneumatic operating means, a device eX- tending slidably through saidkey, means carried by the latter tor moving said device to operate said piano action, and means connected with said automatic mechanism whereby said device is movable by the latter independently of said key to operate said piano action.

G. In a grand piano. the combination ot a piano action, a manually operated key, pneumatic operating means, ar tubular capstan screw adjust-ably mounted on said key, and a. stem slidably mounted in said capstan screw and arranged to be operated by said key to actuate said piano action and adapted to be operated by said automatic mechanism independently ot said key to operate said piano action.

7. l Inw grandi fpzpno,t11efcombination lof 'fset lmy hand'.n

steam; inde-pendently;V of .fsaikeyf to' acta-te: 1.0 said Wippen-.1V .I f

Inv testimonyv whereof- '.-I havev hereuntow 

